The Week of October 25: 5,802 Workers Scheduled for Layoffs, WARN Data Shows

If you watch layoff announcements, you've probably noticed that October has felt relatively quiet — at least by the standards of 2026. That changes next week. WARN filings collected by Layoff Atlas show 5,802 workers with layoffs scheduled to take effect during the week of October 25, roughly triple the 1,972 scheduled for this week.

That jump makes next week the heaviest layoff week of October, and it marks the start of a busier run through November.

What the next few weeks look like

Here is the scheduled calendar of effective dates, based on the latest WARN data:

• Week of Oct 18 (this week): 1,972 workers
• Week of Oct 25 (next week): 5,802 workers
• Week of Nov 1: 4,565 workers
• Week of Nov 8: 5,311 workers
• Week of Nov 15: 7,781 workers — the heaviest week of the fall
• Week of Nov 22 (Thanksgiving week): 6,527 workers

Two things stand out. First, next week's spike is not an anomaly — it is the leading edge of an elevated stretch that peaks in mid-November. Second, the calendar after Thanksgiving tails off, but that is partly because filings for December dates are still being submitted and won't appear until their notices are published.

Why effective dates bunch up like this

WARN effective dates are not random. Under the federal WARN Act, employers must give 60 days' notice before a qualifying mass layoff or plant closure, so effective dates cluster around the dates companies picked when they filed in late August and September.

Next week's 5,802 is the accumulated total of notices filed roughly two months ago — filings made public in late August that are only now reaching their effective dates. That is also why the calendar matters as an early-warning tool: today's filings tell you where December and January will land.

The bigger picture: October 2026 so far

Across the current 90-day window, Layoff Atlas tracks 737 WARN notices covering 67,101 reported workers, with 28 notices not disclosing a worker count. The top states by reported workers are Washington (16,855), California (15,067), Illinois (4,626), Texas (3,784), and Ohio (3,180).

An important caveat applies to all of these figures: WARN notices are reported plans, not confirmed job losses. A filing means an employer told its state it intends to cut jobs — some layoffs shrink through attrition, transfers, or rescinded plans before the effective date arrives. Worker totals also exclude the 28 notices that did not disclose a count, and coverage is not a census of layoffs: it depends on what states publish and what sources feed the registry.

What to watch

• Late October filings will set the December calendar. Watch what gets filed this week and next for the clearest signal of how the year ends.
• California and Washington remain the states to watch — together they account for roughly half of all reported workers in the current window.
• The Nov 15 week (7,781 workers) is the heaviest scheduled week of the season. If you are tracking a specific employer, check its effective date — notices are filed by state, and the details live on each state's WARN page.

One last note: the Thanksgiving week's 6,527 workers is already locked in from earlier filings, and next week's run-up shows the pipeline is still filling. Layoff season is not winding down — it is shifting into its heaviest stretch.

Data source: Layoff Atlas